Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Amy Knapp


I heard some very sad news yesterday. Amy Knapp, the AUL at Pitt when I worked there, died of colon cancer. She was my age -- 46 -- and was diagnosed with the condition in May 2007. It is always terrible when someone in the prime of life dies, but this one hits me, and I am sure everyone who knew Amy, hard.

Amy was an extrovert, gregarious, yet also quite a private person and she somehow embodied for me the spirit of the libraries at Pitt. I was always struck by how perceptive she was and that, whatever meeting we were in, she was usually the smartest person in the room.

We took very different career paths. Amy was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, took all her degrees at Pitt including her doctorate in library science, and worked for the University Libraries from her first year as an undergraduate at the University's Titusville campus as a student employee, a librarian, and finally at Assistant University Librarian. She knew the University and the library system inside out. It is tough for me to imagine the place without her.

Here is the Post Gazette obituary.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jonathon,

thank you for posting such nice words about Amy. we will miss her here personally, and the ULS will be less, for having lost her.

there will be a memorial service on campus, Friday, July 18th at 2PM.

(pls)

Anonymous said...

Jonathon,

Amy was such an amazing and caring person. She made a strong and positive impact on the ULS and the School of Information Sciences. She will be forever missed. Hillman will never be the same without her.